Revolution & Independence Web Sites

LIBERTY! The American Revolution (PBS)
PBS’s assorted and diverse web exhibits supplement specific individual television series and generally include a summary of each episode, interviews (often with sound bites), a timeline , a glossary, photos, and links to relevant sites. Liberty explores the impact of the revolutionary era on the lives of African Americans.

Religion and the American Revolution
Religion played a major role in the American Revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the British–an assurance to the average American that revolution was justified in the sight of God. This Library of Congress page uses primary source documents to illustrate this role.

Africans in America: Revolution, 1750-1805
Part of PBS’s African-American Journey site, here you’ll find part one of a rich collection of resources — images, documents, stories, biographies, commentaries — on the experience of slavery in America. There is also a useful teacher’s guide and activities for students. There are three other parts to explore: The Terrible Transformation: 1450-1750, Brotherly Love:1791-1831, and Judgment Day: 1831-1865.

Spy Letters of the American Revolution
The exhibit is based on spy letters from the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Gallery of Letters provides a brief description of each letter and links to more information about the stories of the spies in the letter or the secret methods used to make the letter.

Common-Place, an Uncommon Voice
This is an online journal of Early American History that strives to be “A bit friendlier than a scholarly journal, a bit more scholarly than a popular magazine” In large part it succeeds, with in-depth articles on Early American topics and columns devoted to classroom teaching, author interviews, material history, and book reviews. Several issues have been theme issues based on topics like Money, Pacific Routes and Early Cities.

Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, Activities and more

Women in the American Revolution
Women contributed to the American Revolution in a variety of ways. Some picked up muskets while others chose to fight with an arrow or a cannon. Others chose a pen, a needle, a pitchfork, sculpting tools, or an apron. Enter this Virtual Museum to learn more. Standards 3.3.6 and 5.6.3.

American Revolutionary War PowerPoint Project
Students will explore the American Revolutionary War by choosing main ideas from various sources (text book, Internet, etc) and then will demonstrate their knowledge of the war by creating a PowerPoint slide show.

George Washington as a Military Leader: Lesson Plan
A high school level lesson plan presented by PBS, this classroom outline focuses on George Washington’s strategies and victories. In the end, students are asked to evaluate Washington as a military leader. The webpage has a strong narrative voice and most of the necessary information is directly on the page. A bibliography section is included.

Lesson Plan: Voices of the American Revolution
In this MarcoPolo lesson plan, students focus on the issues and sentiments of the colonial population immediately prior to the revolution. The lesson plan is quite comprehensive, listing many activities and essay projects. Recommended for High school students.

American Revolutionaries
In this WebQuest students explore the uses and abuses of propaganda in the Revolution, as well as today.

Lesson Plan: George Washington
MarcoPolo designed this George Washington lesson plan. The plan draws from a wide array of sources, including the NARA, PBS, and many others. Students are asked to compare the real George Washington with the heroic, patriotic legend he has become. Recommended for high school students.

Lesson Plan: Colonial Broadsides and the American Revolution
“Broadsides” address virtually every aspect of the American Revolution, providing a wide range of suitable classroom topics. In this lesson (by MarcoPolo), students will use the resources of the Library of Congress’s Printed Ephemera Collection to experience the news as the colonists heard it. Grades 6-8.

Colonial and Revolutionary War Songs
A list of songs that accompanied different participants during the Revolutionary War. Each one tells a different component of the struggles and victories of the time.

Who Wants to Marry a Founding Father?
This interactive website prompts students with a variety of questions that leads them to picking a potential historical spouse. After choosing a founding father (or mother), students canhoneymoon on the Bill of Rights golf course for a second history-based game.